Can an employee deduct the cost of a temporary office as an un-reimbursed office expense?

[circuitrider47]

IRS pubs only mention home office expenses.  The employee worked remotely in NY City for a company based in Los Angeles.  Employee rented an office at WeWork instead of working at home because office was more productive.  

[MargaretL · Accepted solution]

Yes, as an employee, you can deduct cost of the rented office as job-related expenses, if you were required to have one by your employer.  The office must be for the convenience of your employer - not your own. If employer lets you "telecommute" as an option, but not as mandatory requirement - no deduction is allowed, whether it is home office or temporarily rented office. 

If you do qualify as above, here is data entry:

1. Federal Taxes
2. Deductions & Credits (you may have to select See all tax breaks)
3. Employment Expenses
4. Job-Expenses for W2 Income

[dantana]

Is this answer still applicable for the 2018 tax year given the recent overhaul?  I'm in exactly the same situation (live in Bay Area, Employer is in SoCal, and I paid out of pocket for a WeWork because I didn't have appropriate home office space for nearly full-time work from home).   

Thanks for any insights.

[mesquitebean]

@dantana
You're posting in a 2-year-old already-answered thread, which won't show up to the whole forum as needing help.   The odds of it being seen here are not good.

And since the tax laws have changed so much for 2018, you should not be using this old thread.   If you start your own thread and describe the details of your situation,  you'll get faster help in regards to 2018.

When you go to the form at the link below, the first box is for a summary of your question, like a title, and is limited to 170 characters..  If you need more room, lower on the form you will come to another box with plenty of room to enter details.    This is a public Internet forum, so don't post any personal info.

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/new">https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/new</a>

I'm going to close this old thread.